Cullen Granny
by terri lynne
Summary: How the Cullens get a grandmother.


Cullen Granny

Takes place just before graduation in Eclipse This is S.M.'s Property I just want to play in her sandbox too.

EPOV

Mr. Banner had asked me to take some papers to the office for him. I was trying to get into the office, but the door was crowded. I saw Charlie inside so I listened to pick up the thoughts inside and discovered that once again Mrs. Connor was the focus of everyone's thoughts. She volunteered in the school, sometimes in the cafeteria, sometimes watching a teacher's class for them if they have to step out for anything. But mostly she helped out in the office. Today she was sitting in a chair and I could see she was crying, and trying very hard not to think about what had happened to her. Then the thought slipped through of her abusive husband beating her the night before. She was trying very hard to lie about it, saying that she had fallen down the stairs yet again. This would be the fourth time for this lie this year. I couldn't figure out why she was again lying to cover up what he'd done. Charlie had called for an ambulance over her protestation. I could see her through the eyes of those in front of me. She had a black eye, several cuts and bruises and by the way she held herself I could tell she probably had broken ribs. With her long sleeves, and long slacks, I couldn't tell if the cuts and bruises were on her limbs or not. This poor woman was so nice; she always had nice things to say to all the kids, for some she was a second mother. She was somewhere in her fifties, but very energetic. I know that while I was gone, she had tried to help Bella. Holding her while she cried, until Bella finally started to avoid her also. But because of her trying to help, I felt I should try to help her also.

I phoned Carlisle and told him about her and asked him to give her special attention, he said he would. Then once school was out, I told my brothers we had a little problem to fix. After I told them, they were very eager to go have a little talk with Mr. Connor.

No, we didn't lay a finger on him. We just told him we liked her and we didn't want to see her hurting like that again. He told us he loved his wife and would never dream of laying a finger on her. The whole time his thoughts were screaming out that she was going to pay for this and just wait until she gets home, she wouldn't even be able to walk let alone go to that stupid busy body school.

After we left his house, I told my brothers about his thoughts. Jasper had degrees in psychology and so his opinion was very valuable. He said that domestic violence almost always escalates, sometimes resulting in death. We decided to talk to Carlisle when he gets home to see what we should do about the situation.

Jasper told Alice about what happened and Alice was very upset. Two years ago when we were still new to Forks, Mrs. Connor was in the locker room while the girls were out playing volley ball, and two girls were about to cut up Alice's clothes, they didn't know that Mrs. Connor was there collecting dirty towels to wash, she caught them and marched them to the office. They were suspended for a week, and then shortly after that they moved to Seattle, and out of our hair. Rosalie also liked her, one time a girl was walking behind her in the busy hallway between classes and was about to cut off a lock of her hair, when Mrs. Connor grabbed the scissors out of the girls hand and dragged her off to the office, she also was suspended . She saw Emmitt about to pull a prank on Mike one day it was a harmless one and instead of turning him in she helped him pull it off without harm to anyone. She heard a rumor about two girls who were mad at Jasper for ignoring them, plan to put him in a compromising position and warned him in time to prevent it. Mrs. Connor also volunteered at the hospital a lot earning Carlisle's esteem. She was also a volunteer at the shelters where Esme spent so much of her time. Esme was also very fond of her, saying she had a very kind and generous heart.

Bella was over visiting, her and I were in my room. We were sitting on my couch listening to music, and cuddling. Then she saw how late it was and said she had to go home and fix supper for Charlie. Alice just appeared at my door and told Bella to be calm, that Charlie was ok, just a little banged up. Apparently, Charlie had gone to Mr. Connor's house to tell him to behave and not to be beating up on Mrs. Connor or next time he would spend the night in jail. But Mr. Connor had been drinking very heavily after me and my brothers visit to him. So when Chief Swan knocked on his door he lost his temper and attacked him. Charlie is no lightweight; he's fit and active, about180 lbs. without much fat. Unfortunately, Mr. Connor outweighed him by a good hundred pounds. A neighbor saw him attack Charlie and called 911. It took three officers to take Mr. Connor down and arrest him.

I drove Bella to the hospital and we looked for Carlisle. We found him in his office. He got up from his desk, came over quickly, and wrapped Bella into a warm hug. He was softly whispering in her ear that her father was doing just fine and would be released in the morning; meanwhile she could visit him for a little while in his room #215. As we turned to leave Carlisle said for me to wait a moment, Bella went on ahead. My father told me to invite Bella to stay at our house so that she wouldn't be alone tonight. I nodded and quickly caught up with Bella in Charlie's room. Charlie looked awful and Bella was crying hysterically. I wrapped my arms around Bella and her father looked at me gratefully. I told him that he didn't have to worry about Bella as Carlisle had invited Bella to stay with us so she wouldn't be alone tonight. Then Carlisle walked in and told Charlie he was going home for the night, and asked if there was anything he could do for him before he left. Charlie was already falling asleep due to the pain relievers, so as he drifted off he told Carlisle thanks for taking such good care of Bella.

I drove Bella and Carlisle followed closely behind. When we arrived at the house, Bella jumped out of my car and ran to Carlisle's car and still crying she asked him again if her father was really going to be ok? He tried to reassure her that he would be fine but she just couldn't calm down. Jasper appeared on the porch, an agonized look on his face, I gave a slight nod to him and waves of peace and confidence plus sleepiness hit her. I caught her as her knees buckled, and carried her up and put her to bed. Sleep would help her deal with her overwhelming feelings.

With Mr. Connor in jail things started to calm down. Our graduation party plans were going on as if nothing had happened and Charlie had made a full recovery. Mrs. Connor came back to school and was helping get the gym ready for the graduation ceremony. She was doing so well, now that her husband was locked up. Her cuts and bruises were healing, and she walked with a perky step. Now that she was less stressed, we could see that she was actually a very nice looking woman.

Mrs. Connor was helping the night that we graduated keeping the line moving and calming nerves. I could hear her tell Carlisle that his kids were the nicest she had met in a long time. She also told Esme that she must be a wonderful mother for us all to have turned out so well. Then she moved on to welcome other parents. She certainly had captured the hearts of my family.

We found out later after the war with the new borns, that one of the new borns had intercepted the prisoner transport and Mr. Connor had escaped. The others on board were all dead. Official reports said a car accident resulting in a fire killed everyone on board. No one knew he had escaped, so when he showed up at his house Mrs. Connor was very surprised. Then he beat her, only her screams saved her. A neighbor heard the screaming and called 911. When they arrived, he was gone and she was so close to death, they had no hope she would survive. Carlisle was there when they brought her in and told him she was dead, and then they left. But Carlisle heard her very softly inhale and a reluctant heart beat so quiet that a human would never have heard it. Picking her up he ran out the back door and into the cover of the forest. Laying her down on the soft ferns, he bit her over and over to get as much venom into her as fast as possible. Then he quickly ran back into the hospital and found her paper work put it in his pocket, the told the hospital administrator he had a family emergency and had to leave for the rest of the day. He went back out the back door picked her up again and quickly put her in the back seat of his car. All the way home, he worried what to tell the family about this impulsive changing. The wedding was tomorrow and this poor woman would be screaming for the next three days. This was horrible timing to say the least.

Carlisle carried her into the house, put her on the couch, and looked around him. The family was all standing around him just staring at him. Finally, he asked them if Alice had told them what had happened. All they did was look at him and nod. Still staring at him he sat down and explained how she had suffered for so many years it seamed sad for her not to get a chance at a peaceful life. I laughed out loud and asked him how making her a vampire was supposed to give her peace? I told him we all felt sorry for her and it was too late to change anything, he could put her in my soundproof room. Bella and I were leaving after the wedding anyway, she could take over that room sense Bella and I would have our own place after the wedding. None of us told Bella what had happened, we didn't want to spoil her day in any way. Jasper and I went after Mr. Connor and were going to drop him of at a jail, but when we found him, he was already dead. It looked like a drug deal gone bad, so at least we didn't have to worry about him showing up and hurting anyone else. I hurried home to get ready for my wedding, in spite of all the tension and problems lately the wedding was perfect. The honeymoon was also perfect, and when we came home, the family introduced us to our new Granny.

We were moving to New Hampshire so we could attend Dartmouth as planned. It was a cover story for Bella's change to a vampire and now we had two new borns to watch for a while. Where we really were was Alaska at our home far away from humans so Bella and our new granny could get used to the vegetarian diet. Carlisle and Esme had come up with the idea that with her age, Mrs. Connor, Who we now knew as Donna, Would now be known as Esme's mother and Carlisle's mother-in-law. This family just keeps on growing.


End file.
